We made a trip up to Chelan Butte this morning. Then later we went farther east and spent the night by Deep Lake. It was our third time visiting this area of Monument Coulee. But so far, we have yet to see anyone.
See more trip photos here.
Deep Lake at a Glance
Access: Coulee City, Washington
Round Trip: 4 miles
Elevation Range: 1180′-1660′
Gear: none
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
A New Goal
After years of “thinking” about it, I have decided to try my hand at video editing. So far, my filming’s extent has mostly been the one-minute, panoramic clips. But shooting videos had always felt time-consuming for me. And it sure was!
I opted to go to Deep Lake this weekend. So we could squeeze in another short hike ideal for my first real project. Just a couple of weeks ago, I shot some footage with the pups in the backyard. But it was the editing that took up most of the time.
See more trip photos here.
Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park
The bulk of Deep Lake lies inside the Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. The park is also part of the Monument Coulee. After a closer look at the map, I then spotted the small area just outside of the eastern boundary.
Till now, we have only camped in Eastern Washington three times. And we made all three trips out to this lake while it rained in the Cascades. It’s also inside my favorite coulee. So, so far, we’ve made six trips over to the Umatilla Rock side.
See more trip photos here.
Deep Lake
To this day, we’ve only been to the east side of Deep Lake. So we have yet to see the water from the west. But visiting during the offseason requires walking three extra miles roundtrip from the road.
The park service closes the gate by Mirror Lake during winter. So going the extra miles on top of seeing Umatilla Rock feels long! Also, the coulee can get quite gusty at that time.
See more trip photos here.
Overnight at Deep Lake
By the time we reached the lake, it was after sunset. So we went straight to bed after setting up the tent. The times before, we would arrive at our camp spot in the afternoon. So we would have time to take a stroll along the southern lakeshore.
There is a footpath by the water if coming in from the east. But judging from the map, from the west the official trail ends at the halfway mark. The impressive basalt cliffs line the northern shore. So it isn’t conducive to hiking.
See more trip photos here.
Leaving the Coulee
In the past, we had sightings of hawks swirling overhead. But this time, the closest we were to “seeing” wildlife was the howling of coyotes before sunrise. Then in the morning, we walked down to the water. So the pups could get in a few laps.
Even though we were still in the shade after sunrise, I didn’t want to stay too long. A warm weekend meant that the weather would get too hot too fast. But of course, we took our time and didn’t leave until 8 AM!
See more trip photos here.
Outro
It took three hours to go back to the car. But without stopping and shooting videos, it would have taken two hours at the most.